A Full-Scale Agent-Based Model to Hypothetically Explore the Impact of Lockdown, Social Distancing, and Vaccination During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Lombardy, Italy: Model Development
Background The COVID-19 outbreak, an event of global concern, has provided scientists the opportunity to use mathematical modeling to run simulations and test theories about the pandemic. Objective The aim of this study was to propose a full-scale individual-based model of the COVID-19 outbreak in Lombardy, Italy, to test various scenarios pertaining to the pandemic and achieve novel performance metrics. Methods The model was designed to simulate all 10 million inhabitants of Lombardy person by person via a simple agent-based approach using a commercial computer. In order to obtain performance data, a collision detection model was developed to enable cluster nodes in small cells that can b…
An Original Convolution Model to analyze Graph Network Distribution Features
Modern Graph Theory is a newly emerging field that involves all of those approaches that study graphs differently from Classic Graph Theory. The main difference between Classic and Modern Graph Theory regards the analysis and the use of graph's structures (micro/macro). The former aims to solve tasks hosted on graph nodes, most of the time with no insight into the global graph structure, the latter aims to analyze and discover the most salient features characterizing a whole network of each graph, like degree distributions, hubs, clustering coefficient and network motifs. The activities carried out during the PhD period concerned, after a careful preliminary study on the applications of the…
The role of network connectivity on epileptiform activity.
AbstractA number of potentially important mechanisms have been identified as key players to generate epileptiform activity, such as genetic mutations, activity-dependent alteration of synaptic functions, and functional network reorganization at the macroscopic level. Here we study how network connectivity at cellular level can affect the onset of epileptiform activity, using computational model networks with different wiring properties. The model suggests that networks connected as in real brain circuits are more resistant to generate seizure-like activity. The results suggest new experimentally testable predictions on the cellular network connectivity in epileptic individuals, and highligh…
Sequence Learning in a Single Trial: A Spiking Neurons Model Based on Hippocampal Circuitry.
ABSTRACTIn contrast with our everyday experience using brain circuits, it can take a prohibitively long time to train a computational system to produce the correct sequence of outputs in the presence of a series of inputs. This suggests that something important is missing in the way in which models are trying to reproduce basic cognitive functions. In this work, we introduce a new neuronal network architecture that is able to learn, in a single trial, an arbitrary long sequence of any known objects. The key point of the model is the explicit use of mechanisms and circuitry observed in the hippocampus, which allow the model to reach a level of efficiency and accuracy that, to the best of our…
A Full-Scale Agent-Based Model of Lombardy COVID-19 Dynamics to Explore Social Networks Connectivity and Vaccine Impact on Epidemic
ABSTRACTSeptember 13, 2020COVID-19 outbreak is an awful event. However it gives to the scientists the possibility to test theories about epidemic. The aim of this contribution is to propose a individual-based model of Lombardy COVID-19 outbreak at full-scale, where full-scale means that will be simulated all the 10 millions inhabitant population of Lombardy person by person, in a commercial computer. All this to test the impact of our daily actions in epidemic, investigate social networks connectivity and in the end have an insight on the impact of an hypothetical vaccine.
Author’s Response to Peer Reviews of “A Full-Scale Agent-Based Model to Hypothetically Explore the Impact of Lockdown, Social Distancing, and Vaccination During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Lombardy, Italy: Model Development”
Spatial graphs and Convolutive Models
In the last two decades, many complex systems have benefited from the use of graph theory, and these approaches have shown robust applicability in the field of finance, computer circuits and in biological systems. Large scale models of brain systems make also a great use of random graph models. Graph theory can be instrumental in modeling the connectivity and spatial distribution of neurons, through a characterization of the relative topological properties. However, all approaches in studying brain function have been so far limited to use experimental constraints obtained at a macroscopic level (e.g. fMRI, EEG, MEG, DTI, DSI). In this contribution, we present a microscopic use (i.e. at the …
NeuronAlg: An Innovative Neuronal Computational Model for Immunofluorescence Image Segmentation
Background: Image analysis applications in digital pathology include various methods for segmenting regions of interest. Their identification is one of the most complex steps and therefore of great interest for the study of robust methods that do not necessarily rely on a machine learning (ML) approach. Method: A fully automatic and optimized segmentation process for different datasets is a prerequisite for classifying and diagnosing indirect immunofluorescence (IIF) raw data. This study describes a deterministic computational neuroscience approach for identifying cells and nuclei. It is very different from the conventional neural network approaches but has an equivalent quantitative and qu…
On the structural connectivity of large-scale models of brain networks at cellular level
AbstractThe brain’s structural connectivity plays a fundamental role in determining how neuron networks generate, process, and transfer information within and between brain regions. The underlying mechanisms are extremely difficult to study experimentally and, in many cases, large-scale model networks are of great help. However, the implementation of these models relies on experimental findings that are often sparse and limited. Their predicting power ultimately depends on how closely a model’s connectivity represents the real system. Here we argue that the data-driven probabilistic rules, widely used to build neuronal network models, may not be appropriate to represent the dynamics of the …